As of July 4, 2011, most of my blogs are on indefinite sabbatical, but you can still keep up with me on Twitter, my writing and Florida blogs, and JSH News!

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Elmwood Mansion

The stories are numerous about this huge mansion in downtown Richmond being haunted, and we believe them. There is a definite sense of a presence one feels when one is here. The house is empty now (Emma died in 1970) but the house is still furnished just as it was at the time of her death. The Richmond City Council holds occasional events in the front yard of the property, and gives tours of the home every Halloween. They refer to the mansion as "Elmwood", but in my childhood everyone just called it "The Emma Watts House".

According to rumor, Emma despised EKU with a passion and arranged to have it written into her will, in perpetuity, that EKU could never, ever get their hands on her property. Let us hope it will always be so. They'd probably turn it into a parking garage or a soccer field if they got half a chance.

There is another rumor that Emma is buried on the premises, but we found her grave in Richmond Cemetery.